Shattered Dusk Arc: Frozen Heart
Valencia kept her poise as she walked from the guild master's meeting but as soon as she reached the outside world her hood came up and a fire awoke in her eyes. A fire of passion, a fire that her enemies would regret kindling. Just as she reached a small park her bird, Ingrid, swooped low, not stopping as Valencia took a running leap and landed lightly on the bird's back. Both were silent while wind whipped by, snatching at the guild master's cloak. When they were above the location of the rest of Archer's Cross Valencia slid sideways and off Ingrid. Cool air stung her eyes and dried the angry tears that flowed from them. There was plenty of time for that later. ---------------------------- The leaves whispered, causing entire trees to howl. Four people stand facing each other, each with a cloak covering their features. Wind hushes to silence as one steps forward to speak. "The alliance has decided that we will fight this evil. We will be fighting dark forces and I will not force you to fight but if you wish to, you will be helping bring back our friend and other people's family. I do not know where Juli or Asora currently are but those of us who are here will be enough to form a team. But again, I'm not forcing-" "We already talked about this while you were away and we decided to fight next to you. We apologize if this was out of line but there was plenty of time to make up our minds." Gryphon says acting as spokesperson for the group. The other's nod and offer small smiles. Valencia feels tension leave her body knowing her guild has her back. "We all meet tomorrow so get some rest for the coming battle" Valencia instructs. ------------------------------------- As soon as Samarra gave the go ahead, Archer's Cross was on the move. Hal was to be their runner in case something went wrong, Gryphon would be their guard from behind, Valencia would take point, and Serenity was to be there in close range attacks. The further they got into the compound the colder it became for all but the fire user. She lit her hands with the vibrant magic and swirled it in a ring around the group to try and warm their numbing hands and feet. After a few moments the lights exploded from the frigid air. Hal was the first to figure out they must be in close contact with a mage. "The change is too powerful and too sudden to be normal." "So small yet so annoying" a voice from the shadows said. The feminine tone had no emotion but conveyed the embodiment of being frozen alive. Serenity's flames flickered and died from unbridled fear as well as the sudden intense feeling of hypothermia. From behind her a brilliant flash and a bow made entirely of raging flames rested in Gryphon's capable hands. "Come on now. That was quite rude to startle my friend here and insult the other. You ought to apologize ma'am" Gryphon chastises playfully. Serenity closes her eyes and when she reopens them her entire body alights with the pulsating fire. Her eyes shine bright while corner of her mouth turns up at Gryphon's lighthearted nature. "Who are you? Are you with Shattered Dusk? Or perhaps Chaos Prophet?" Valencia asks. Her only response is the temperature dropping an additional 20 degrees. "I will translate that as a yes and ask you to stand down or we will have to forcibly remove you from the premises." The metal on the walls had long since frozen and was beginning to crack as the temperature dropped even further inside. Serenity added more fuel to her inner flames and they glowed brighter, illuminating the girl in front of them. She's dressed for the winter season with fur lined gloves and cloak as well as heavy pants and winter boots. One hand remains in her pocket while the other causes a crystal of ice to hover above her palm. Small wisps of cold float off the structure and swirl around her fingertips. The girl sighs and turns to face them, blowing the small object towards the wall. When it touches the surface giant pointed columns of ice erupt from one side to the other which blocks the mages on the other side. With a blank face Iridesence turns around to head towards her assigned location. Chink. The small noise causes her to swivel around and come face to face with her ice exploding. A giant wolf stands in front of the guild team, his fur still standing on end from the sound waves he produced. The Great Alpha Wolf, Messiah of the Northern Storm faced the dragon slayer with his teeth slightly bared. Valencia placed a hand over her beasts head to soothe him. "Please stand down as we do not wish to hurt you. This will be the last time I ask" the guild master announced, this time her voice was fierce with the anger of what the dark guild had done. Iridesence just shrugged and said "I guess I'll just have to stop your hearts." The temperature began to drop rapidly and Valencia fell to one knee. Messiah curled around her body and began to vibrate to promote movement of her blood cells and use his fur as a small protection against the cold. Serenity worriedly expanded her flames to encompass Hal who was close to her but could not reach Gryphon as he ran to help the guild master. His body began to convulse but he pressed on until his legs finally went numb and gave out. His bow, his only source of heat disappeared and frost began to immediately eat away at him. His lips became a deep blue quickly. "S-serenity," Valencia's voice rang out in her mind," combine your heat with the blast I will have Messiah give off. It should generate enough force to explode the walls around us so we can take this outside." She nodded quickly and when Valencia returned the motion she released the energy inside of her. The walls, and ceiling, did indeed bust out and the group ran outside. Iridesence had been ordered to take out any in her way so she was forced to follow. Outside Valencia ordered Gryphon and Hal to get to the roof and be their eyes in the sky while the girls kept the fight on the ground. Ingrid appeared and carried the boys upwards while Iridesence walked from the building nonchalantly. Every footstep caused frost to form on the ground around her feet. Messiah sunk low, Valencia pulled her twin daggers from the their sheaths, Serenity lit her hands aflame and created a phoenix by her shoulder, Gryphon summoned his bow, and handed Hal a small crossbow designed to not injure the user. "This is just in case. Hold here, fire here, and don't worry about reloading, it will do that for you. Be careful" Gryphon instructs and turns back to the fight. Iridescence cups her hands over her mouth with a small space in between. A magic circle appears in front of them and a blast of ice shards emit from it, heading for the two on the ground. Valencia ducks and rolls while Serenity pushes her hands in fronton her and lets out a continuing stream of fire. Gryphon pulls his bowstring back and releases and arrow of fire on a path to the dragon slayer. She screeches as it pierces he shoulder and slams her hands on the ground, ice exploding towards them. The boys quickly get on Valencia's bird and take off. Ice attacks Gryphons foot and causes him to slide off. A large cat creature does to being and lets out a fiery roar. The ice holding Gryphon melts and he falls to the ground. The impact causes his ankle to shatter but he rolls to avoid further injury. Serenity rushes over to be his defense and the pair fire off blasts of magic while Valencia rushes the slayer with her beasts by her side. Messiah takes a sudden leap forward and is instantly frozen. A snake made of ice had been heading for the guild master but the wolf had stopped and broken it. Valencia quickly releases him and he disappears with a small poof. Vin once again roars but sends it directly at the slayer, connecting with Gryphon's arrows and a flaming phoenix from Serenity on each side. Unprepared for the combo attack, Iridesence is only able to stop the arrows and takes the hits from the remaining flames. "Ice Dragon's Frozen Tower" she shouts and pillars erupt around the fire mage, archer, and even Vin. Valencia screams as she watches her guild members be trapped in the ice. She releases Vin who would normally disappear in a crackle of fire but could not in her current state. Instead she left in a cloud of smoke. The guild master gripped her weapons, Nemesis and Calamity, harder and drew herself to her full height. A white aura surrounds her and begins cracking the ground around her feet. "How dare you" the older woman states. She slowly walks to the dragon slayer. "How dare you, one so young and full of life, not only throw your own life to the dogs but try to take my guild's lives as well. These people are precious to me and I cannot allow you to take them away. I will take on a slayer or a dragon itself if need be, but I won't let you touch my guild members again." Valencia stands face to face with her unfortunate opponent. Iridescence lashes out in fear with Ice Dragon's Taloned Terror but misses. Valencia slashes her daggers in an X which efficiently takes out the ice on the slayers hands. The white haired girl tumbles back and once again cups her hands over her mouth. At this close range the attack could kill Valencia. "Ice Dragon's Ro-" An arrow whips past the guild master's head and hits the slayer in the chest. It disappears in a flash but leaves behind a green liquid. Turning, the blunette sees Hal still high above their heads on Ingrid. He holds the crossbow with a triumphant grin and lands next to her. The ice around the others shatters and they join the group. Gryphon walks directly up to the woozy Iridesence and checks her pulse. He then turns to Hal. "Impressive that you managed to get a paralysis arrow out of that. Those take quite a bit of energy. That bow will create whatever arrow the user wishes but it costs magic power. Great job Hal!" "You're the hero of the day for us! Way to go" Serenity congratulates. "Thank you and job well done. That was brilliant of you." Valencia states and releases allure summons. She then turns to the nearly asleep girl beside them. Iridesence fights sleep but relief shows on her face. She passes out a few seconds later. Aslasatiun appears and Valencia carefully lifts the young girl to his back. "It is time for us to rejoin the others. I get a feeling there is more to come."